Fire safety regime ‘a national disgrace’, union leader warns
FIREFIGHTERS’ LEADERS have called for a huge increase in the number of inspectors after branding Britain’s fire safety regime a “national disgrace”.
The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) said only 12 extra staff were set to be appointed to inspect and enforce fire safety in homes.
The union called for a permanent statutory advisory body for the fire and rescue service to be set up, to include frontline firefighters and inspectors.
Fire inspector numbers should be doubled to tackle the building safety “crisis”, said the FBU. General secretary Matt Wrack will give evidence today to a Parliamentary Committee on the Fire Safety Bill, which would extend responsibility for fire services to inspect and enforce fire safety in parts of England’s multioccupancy buildings, including building structures, external walls, stairs and doors between residences.
Speaking ahead of the hearing, he said the legislation is long overdue.
He said: “Three years after Grenfell, Britain’s fire safety regime remains a national disgrace.
“This legislation is long overdue but insufficient.
“The Bill in its current form is a gross underestimate of the realities of the crisis. Without funding a significant increase in fire inspector numbers, this change in the law will not ramp up enforcement on rogue landlords –Ministers need a serious reality check.
“At best, the Government is planning to fund less than one extra fire inspector in each fire service for a massively expanded workload. We should be talking about immediately doubling inspector numbers to make a dent in this crisis.”